Horror of War in Dulce et Decorum Est :: Dulce et Decorum Est Essays

Horror of War in Dulce et Decorum Est   Wilfred Owens Dulce et Decorum Est is a magnificent, and terrible, description of a gas attack suffered by a congregation of soldiers in World War 1. One of this group is unable to nail on his helmet, and suffers horribly. Through his shifting rhythms, dramatic description, and rich, raw images, Owen seeks to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the patriotic cliches of those who glamorize war.    In the first off of four stanzas, Owen presents the death- ilk calm before the storm of the gas attack. Alliteration and onomatopoeia amount with powerful figurative and literal images of war to produce a dreary sense of despair. Bent beggars, knock-kneed, cough and curse like hags by means of sludge. All of this compressed into just 2 lines The third line places the talker of the poem with this trudging group. In the simple Men marched asleep sentence, the three beat imitate the falling rhythm of these exhausted men. The pun blood-shod makes its grim lay out on us slowly. We guess, too, that blind and lame suggest several levels of debilitation. The stanza ends with the ironic-quiet sounds of the shells falling softly behind.   In contrast to the first stanza, the second stanza is full of action. The oxymoron, fanaticism of fumbling, seems at first odd, but then perfect, as a way to describe the controlled panic -instantly awakened with heightened sensibility- of men with just seconds to govern a gas mask. But... tells all. One man is too late and is seen precisely through the green sea of mustard gas, yelling... stumbling...drowning...guttering...choking.   The third stanzas brief two lines emphasize the nightmare these events continue to be for our speaker.   In the last stanza, Owen becomes much insistent as he drives atus with the steady rhythmic beat of iambic pentameter. We feel the jolt of the wagon, see the white eyes writhing in this hanging face, and, most horribly , hear the gargling of the blood choked lungs. The amazing sound-filled simile, like a devils sick of sin, testifies, along with all the rest, to the overwhelming truth of this experience. It is not if we could see the horror of this scene.